Monareta, a band made up of dancing aliens from outer space, has the best spinning propeller nerd beanies in all of Colombia. This is their video, Llama. That’s all we know for sure. If you have any additional information, please contact the appropriate authorities in your jurisdiction. And dance!
Cultura
It’s Not News to Us
This is the angriest big bird you will see today (video)
It’s a loud chicken, and then it’s a really angry bird. (No frijoles were harmed in the making of this video.)
Totally scientific proof and I’m not kidding: Men make women crazy
(PNS reporting from SEATTLE) Women now have scientific proof of what they suspected all along: men make you crazy.
The groundbreaking study conducted here by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center proves what women have suspected all along.
The technical explanation? Women who give birth to boys retain male DNA in their brains and therefore they go batshit crazy.
The study found that in 63% of women, male DNA from their fetus was able to cross the blood-brain barrier and continue to exist inside the mother’s brain, even into old age.
Mas…Totally scientific proof and I’m not kidding: Men make women crazy
Educated Bay Area Chicana wants to know ‘What about my needs?’
(PNS reporting from SAN FRANCISCO) A Chicana with a Juris Doctor degree and a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley recently reflected on her career as the director of a non-profit serving underprivileged youth in the Mission District. Why, she wondered, was she was working so hard to give back.
“Have I ever really lived? I always thought I wanted to give back to the community — it’s given me so much, everything actually — but I’ve never even been to the wine country!” said Paloma Ortiz, a native of the Mission.
Ortiz (photo, above, at her office) noted that although she studied Chicano/a studies and law, her real passion was French literature. Now that she’s in the prime of her life, the prospect of helping her community was increasingly less appealing.
Mas…Educated Bay Area Chicana wants to know ‘What about my needs?’
Dead and more dead in the drug war and only ‘The Silence’ (video)
When the kids ask why all these people are dying in Mexico’s Drug War, what do you say? The unmistakable David Hidalgo of Los Lobos (with harmonies by Jackson Browne) sings of The Silence on this Los Cenzontles tune recorded by the veteran East Bay collective in L.A.’s Echo Park in February. Closing guitar solo by Eugene Rodriguez.
Won’t you join them? Arise Roots is ‘Moving Forward’ (music video)
Many POCHO amigos are involved in this video (production, direction, love, etc.) so we’re proud to debut the latest from homies Arise Roots; the band is Moving Forward. Won’t you come along?
Unsung Heroes of Hispanic Heritage Month: Jed Bartlet
They were ordinary people living ordinary lives, until one singular sensation of circumstance conspired with fate to make them UNSUNG HEROES OF HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH.
When a liberal Supreme Court justice retired in 1998, Pres. Jed Bartlet and his staff thought this was the perfect opportunity to increase approval ratings with a politically “safe” nominee, Judge Peyton Harrison.
The retiring justice, a liberal, was not impressed by Bartlet’s choice and urged him to consider another candidate. Bartlet asked his aide Toby Ziegler to review their decision. Ziegler, after walking and talking with other habitues of the West Wing, was uncomfortable with the prospect of losing the easy confirmation, but complied.
Zeigler learned that Harrison once argued against a guarantee of privacy, and told Bartlet a backup candidate should be vetted as a possible replacement nominee.
David Byrne/La Portuaria: Today I’m not afraid of dyin’ (music video)
David Byrne and Argentina’s La Portuaria team up to defy fear and death in Hoy lo le temo a la muerte.
NBC profiles Jefe Lalo Alcaraz for Hispanic Heritage Month (video)
It’s only fair, really. POCHO Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz gets props during Hispanic Heritage Month, or, as he likes to call it, Latino Heritage Month. Ana Garcia of KNBC Los Angeles reports.
Pocho Ocho other things Christopher Columbus got wrong
Aside from not sailing to “India,” Christopher Columbus got many other things wrong. Since Dia de La Raza/Columbus Day is Monday, we can’t forget the Pocho Ocho top boners he pulled:
8. He forgot the extra pair of chonies his abuela packed for him.
7. He named all of his ships after cholas, but forgot La Sad Girl.
6. He didn’t stop to ask for directions.
Forget Big Bird! Meet Señor Loro, the Latino parrot candidate (video)
From Los Titeres (the puppets): Don’t waste your vote on the phony mainstream yellow bird candidate until you consider wasting your vote on the Puppet Party’s Latino red parrot candidate — Señor Loro for Presidente! (Borderline NSFW language and a disturbing bird bigote.)
Video by Felix Pire. LosTiteresTV is on Facebook and on the Internets.
–Freelancer Junior Wences PhD writes by hand.
Don’t wait for immigration reform: PORT-A-BORDER is here! (video)
“Comprehensive immigration reform” is like the weather — everyone talks about it but no one does anything about it. That’s why real Americans are going wild over PORT-A-BORDER, the personal hi-tech illegal immigration solution that keeps those darn Mexicans out of your personal space. (Possibly NSFW language.)
Unsung Heroes of Hispanic Heritage Month: George Romney
They were ordinary people living ordinary lives, until one singular sensation of circumstance conspired with fate to make them UNSUNG HEROES OF HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH.
When Michigan Gov. George Romney‘s GOP presidential nomination campaign came to the New York World’s Fair in 1964 (photo, left, with son Mitt) an intense young wannabe TV reporter named Gerry Riviera was on the scene.
The nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn was confused after his college experience at the University of Arizona. He had been strangely at home in the desert Southwest, but was still a gefilte fish out of water. What to do with his life?
“I was born to American parents in Mexico,” Romney told reporters as he toured the crumbling, deeply-indebted Spanish Pavilion. “In some ways, it would be helpful to be Latino.” Son Mitt nodded his head in agreement.
Santeria? It’s what’s for dinner! ‘Otto and the Electric Eel’ (video)
In Otto and the Electric Eel, a modern adaptation of an Afro-Cuban Santeria myth, Miami bass legend Otto Von Schirach (playing the role of Chango, god of thunder) battles to keep an inter-dimensional creature (serpent god Damballah) from ruining his dinner date.
Adrian Tafoya: My life as an alien (In space, la raza assimilates you)
There are certain situations in Hollywood where as an actor you have to have no shame.
This was one of those times as I stood inside a large curtained-off fitting room wearing only a flesh-colored dance belt, the equivalent of man panties. Well, it is true that actors are a strangely alien tribe which are most unique only in Hollywood. I mean, where else would a Latino wear such a ridiculous contraption?
OK, back to my man panties… Key costumer Kim Thompson enters with a box of silver and black shaded and molded latex pieces twisted into sinewy shapes and a box of safety pins. She hands me a stretchy nylon body suit and says, “Put this on,” not asking, knowing full well that I would welcome a cover-up of my nakedness.
Mas…Adrian Tafoya: My life as an alien (In space, la raza assimilates you)
Menudorade: The electrolytes you need and the tripa you love (video)
For the fluids and electrolytes a hard-working vato needs plus the secret power of tripa and posole — it’s Menudorade! In grocery and convenience stores now.
Elvis Presley, undocumented worker: ‘Fun in Acapulco’ (photos,video)
The year is 1963 and Elvis is on a roll. As his star rises on the American music scene, Hollywood lifts its head and takes notice: he gets signed for a fun Mexican adventure romp entitled Fun in Acapulco.
While gorgeous exterior shots are completed on location in Mexico, Elvis shoots his scenes in “Mexico,” a Hollywood backlot commissioned by Hal Wallis Productions and through the magic of less-than-spectacular editing and rear-projection shots seems to dance and sing his sad way (he’s mourning the accidental death of his brother he may have caused) through this somewhat harmless farce.
Of course (as I’ve written many times before), you’ve got to be a fool to turn to Hollywood for accurate portrayals of “foreign spaces”–still, Fun in Acapulco is not half bad.
The kid in the clip below gives new meaning to the word irony, as Elvis, “American,” conspires to work as an “illegal alien” in Mexico.
Mas…Elvis Presley, undocumented worker: ‘Fun in Acapulco’ (photos,video)
Unsung Heroes of Hispanic Heritage Month: Shep Devereaux
They were ordinary people living ordinary lives, until one singular sensation of circumstance conspired with fate to make them UNSUNG HEROES OF HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH.
Hollywood, Dec. 23, 1958. Singing cowboy Gene Autry‘s Challenge Records signed hard-drinking rockabilly singer/piano-player Shep Devereaux to produce four sides. Devereaux, originally from New Orleans, booked the Flores Trio (Danny Flores on saxophone and keyboards, Gene Alden on drums, and lead guitarist Buddy Bruce) to back him up. They recorded three rockabilly numbers and an up-tempo mostly-instrumental track composed by Flores, a song jokingly called “Chingate.” The song’s lyrics consisted of just that one cussword, repeated three times and featured a blistering sax solo by Flores.
When Autry, in the control room, heard “Chingate” he knew it was a hit, but realized the name had to change, so he asked for suggestions for three-syllable phrases from the band.
“Horchata!” “Tu madre!” “Rafalca!” The musicians were full of ideas.
Mas…Unsung Heroes of Hispanic Heritage Month: Shep Devereaux
Mayan Apocalypse Doomsday 2012: Volcanoes and tsunamis (video)
In an age when books have trailers, some trailers float higher in the flotsam and jetsam of mass-market, dead-tree publishing, especially when they graphically portray the destructive American volcanos and Atlantic tsunamis that will rock your world on Dec. 21. [See POCHO’s Mexclusive Mayan Apocalypse Doomsday 2012 Countdown Clock in the right column of this page.]
Need Dia de los Muertos-inspired loteria-looking woodcut prints? ¡Orale!
POCHO amiga Donna Atwood is a graphic artist in Phoenix with a love of the Southwest. She writes she was
born in San Antonio, TX to predominantly German parents. Maternal grandfather unknown. So, I believe we have “esqueleto en el armario” in my family. I am definitely inspired by Mexican art, especially after studying Mexican art history in college. And this is Phoenix, with a healthy Hispanic population. So, I am immersed in it.
Her most recent project is a set of woodcuts (technically they are “linocuts”) inspired by Mexican loteria cards.
Peep the loteria images below (plus two extras), and if you like, visit her store on Etsy where they are available as signed, numbered, limited-edition prints.
Mas…Need Dia de los Muertos-inspired loteria-looking woodcut prints? ¡Orale!
Unsung Heroes of Hispanic Heritage Month: Yossi Berkowitz
They were ordinary people living ordinary lives, until one singular sensation of circumstance conspired with fate to make them UNSUNG HEROES OF HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH.
In 1978, a young Chicano actor from Montebello, CA went to tailor Yossi Berkowitz to try on a new suit custom-made for his starring role in a Los Angeles play. Right away, he noticed that the coat sleeves were too long.
“No problem,” said Berkowitz, a long-time shop owner on Whittier Boulevard in nearby Boyle Heights. “Just bend them at the elbow and hold them out in front of you. See, now it’s fine.”
“But the collar is up around my ears!” the actor complained.
Mas…Unsung Heroes of Hispanic Heritage Month: Yossi Berkowitz
When the world turns crazy, luchadors turn pro ‘Muy Macho’ (video)
Muy Macho tells the tale of a put-upon, alcoholic gardener who finds out he comes from a long line of luchador-masked superheroes. When he ingests his pinche foul-mouthed abuela’s homemade remedio, he becomes a nine-foot tall wall of rippling Mexican crime-fighting muscle. (Totally NSFW language.)
By special arrangement with writer and director Kevin Beauchamp.
Sector Sabana Abajo ‘We Are Latinos’ (video) English/Spanish lyrics
Sector Abana Abajo presents We Are Latinos featuring singer Jackie Santos. This song is dedicated to all the world’s Latinos, especially to those who struggle every day in the U.S.
Here are the lyrics in Spanish and English courtesy Los Padrotes Music:
Mas…Sector Sabana Abajo ‘We Are Latinos’ (video) English/Spanish lyrics
Illegal Border Crossing Park – a night in Hell for under $20! (video)
Tired of Machu Pichu? Eco-tourism in Borneo too old school? Disneyworld — been there done that? Visit exciting Illegal Border Crossing Park where you can spend a terrified night being hunted by “La Migra.” Under $20 per person!
H/T Huffington Post.
Pocho Ocho must-have Mayan Apocalypse survival kit items
With Mayan Apocalypse Doomsday 2012 under three months away, time is running out to assemble the emergency survival supplies you’ll need in your underground shelter. [Check our countdown clock in the right column.]
Remember:
Unforeseen dangers and unknown entities will be lurking in your No-Tech Future Hell on Earth (think Mad Max meets the chupacabra), what you have with you will determine whether you live or die.
Aside from rice, beans, water, sanitary supplies and beer (which will also be the means of exchange, i.e., money), these are the pocho ocho top items you need:
-------------- ✂ CLIP & SAVE ✂ --------------
8. Aqua Net
7. VapoRub
6. Switchblade (for him)
5. Chanclas (for her)
Mas…Pocho Ocho must-have Mayan Apocalypse survival kit items
Unsung Heroes of Hispanic Heritage Month: Trevor Pecklehamm III
They were ordinary people living ordinary lives, until one singular sensation of circumstances conspired with fate to make them UNSUNG HEROES OF HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH
Before the scandal surrounding his arrest for shoplifting and hoarding Hello Kitty backpacks ended his career, ace character creator and animator Trevor Pecklehamm III was Hollywood’s go-to guy if you needed help in perfecting your cartoon concept for the networks.
Mas…Unsung Heroes of Hispanic Heritage Month: Trevor Pecklehamm III
Gangster Computer God Worldwide Secret Containment Policy (video)
Don’t say we didn’t tell you – especially the part about the brain bank cities on the dark side of the Moon! (NSFW language.)
Señor Flavio surfs the softer side with ‘Dulce Babalu’ (video)
POCHO’s crew of slackers, surfers, skaters and all-around SoCal party peeps missed this video when it came out in March, but when we started going through the tunes on the excellent new FREE Nacional Records Sampler, this track perked up our ears and made us look for a video. From Argentina with love, meet Señor Flavio, pochas y pochos, with Dulce Babalu.
Unsung Heroes of Hispanic Heritage Month: Ray Moss
They were ordinary people living ordinary lives, until one singular sensation of circumstances conspired with fate to make them UNSUNG HEROES OF HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH
The effort to organize African-American, Filipino-American and Mexican-American farmworkers in California’s Central Valley was an uphill battle in 1964. Fledgling union leader Cesar Chavez thought organizing a boycott of a particular crop might make a good focus for his efforts and he settled on rutabagas, which were just coming into season.